Sidetracked
by puellascribit5
Summary: Peter lets Neal drive the Taurus to work, but all doesn't go as planned.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N):** I guess I'd say this story has a bit of whump in it so, heads up! Any mistakes you find are my own and I (sadly) don't own anything. Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Neal was just about done tying his tie when he heard a knock at his door. _Peter is here early._ he thought as he walked over and opened the door to see Peter standing in the doorway.

"I'd say good morning, but clearly it's not." Neal said as he spotted Peter's tired face and looked back to the car. "Uh, why are you here half an hour early?"

"You have a driver's license right?" Peter asked, out of nowhere. "Wait, let me rephrase that. Do you have a _legal_ driver's license?"

"Peter, of course I have one that abides by your legal standards. Quite frankly, I'm hurt that you would suggest otherwise." Neal added sarcastically. "Anyway, why in the world would you need to know? And you still didn't answer my previous question."

Peter sighed. "Well…the game was on last night, El was in bed upstairs, and I sort of fell asleep on the couch writing up yesterday's reports. I woke up this morning, with absolutely nothing done."

"I still don't see the problem. Just get the reports done at the office."

"Normally I would but Jones and I made a bet. We split the work in half and whoever came in with the most done would make the other pay for the others lunch."

"Okay, that explains you being early. But why do you care if I have a legal license?"

"I have to finish all these reports before Jones gets in this morning. If anything, he'll be coming in early too. I need you to drive while I finish up the last of the reports in the car."

"Seriously?" Neal couldn't believe Peter would even consider letting him drive the Taurus to the office.

"Completely. Now, come on, get your fancy shoes on and let's go."

Neal quickly put his Italian leather shoes on and made his way down to the Taurus with Peter. This time though, he went for the driver's side. Weirdly enough, Peter made his way to the backseat.

"Why are you sitting back there?"

"More room, I need to lay out the papers."

"Fine. Keys please?" Neal stuck his hand out like a teenager begging their dad to give them the keys to the car for the first time.

Peter reached out to hand over the keys to Neal but raised them at the last second. "If you get one scratch on this car, so help me…" Peter warned.

"Chill out Peter. If you may know, I am an excellent driver."

"Don't make me regret this." Peter said as he finally gave the keys to Neal who then put them in the ignition and drove off.

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><p>"How's it going back there?" Neal asked a few minutes into the drive.<p>

"Shh, I'm almost done. I have four more pages to fill out." Peter said as he quickly worked in the backseat.

The most recent bad guy they were putting away was Robert Dykes for counterfeiting. He was rumored to have a brother who was running the con with him, but they never got anything to convict the brother.

Neal quickly glanced out the side mirrors when he saw a black SUV not too far behind. He could have sworn that was the same one that had been behind him for the last couple of turns. _I'm being paranoid._ Neal thought. Just to be safe, he took a few more turns and thankfully, the SUV was no longer following him.

"Neal, where the heck are we?" Peter looked out the window. They were on some sort of side road with old and empty shops.

"I think we had a tail, so I took some extra turns and lost them."

"Are you positive?"

"I'm sure. It was a black SUV, I didn't see any plates." Neal said as he signaled and turned down a one way road. "Who do you think it was?"

"Maybe an associate of Dykes'?" Peter thought out loud even though he was positive that Dykes didn't work with anyone.

"Could be." Neal said as he continued down the one way road.

_Then_…

It happened so fast. The same black SUV that was tailing them speed out of an abandoned parking garage from the left and hit the Taurus diagonally into the front of the driver's seat. Peter heard the crushing of metal, screeching tires, and the sound of the car's air bags deploying. He felt his report binder hit in square in the face—hard. After the collision, it was silent. Peter opened his eyes slowly and self-consciously touched his nose, and it was no surprise that he felt warm blood dripping out of his nose from the impact of the binder. He looked around and saw smoke rising up from the front of the Taurus. Peter was a bit dazed as he found himself in the backseat. _Wasn't I driving?_ he tried to recollect what happened before the crash. Peter carefully unbuckled himself and swore at the pain in his right arm. He gingerly leaned forward to look at the driver's seat and saw a figure slumped up against the steering wheel.

"Oh no…Neal!" Peter yelled to Neal who was still unmoving in the driver's seat. He opened the backseat door, which required a bit of a push, and rushed to pull open the door for the driver's seat.

"Neal!" He screamed again as he successfully opened the door. Peter carefully leaned him back against the seat as he felt for a pulse on Neal's neck and released a breath he didn't realize he was holding when he felt a weak pulse.

"Neal, come on buddy, you gotta wake up." Peter said as he softly slapped Neal's cheeks, and to his surprise the younger man's eyelids fluttered a bit. "Please, Neal, open your eyes for me." he begged.

Thankfully, Neal opened his eyes but looked around panicked and unaware of what was going on.

"Neal! Neal, calm down, just relax." Peter tried to calm Neal down and it seemed to work when Neal started to focus his big blue eyes on Peter.

"P-Peter? What…happened?" Neal slurred.

Peter sighed as he came to the realization that Neal probably hit his head and got a concussion. "Well, it seems like our tail decided to crash into us. You were driving, do you remember that?"

"I-I don't know." Neal said as his eyelids started to close.

"Keep your eyes open for me, Neal." Peter shook Neal gently but stopped as Neal groaned and hugged his side. "Sorry, sorry!"

"My…my side is killing me." Neal said with a voice full of pain. Peter's heart dropped; he would do anything to switch places with Neal. After all, he was the one who asked him to drive in the first place.

"Just hold on, let me call an ambulance." Peter said as he reached inside to pull out his phone. He panicked a bit when he didn't see it so he went to look in the backseat of the Taurus._ Damn it._ He swore inside his head, being careful not to worry Neal, when he found his cell with a cracked screen. Peter got out of the backseat and went over to Neal, who had his eyes closed again.

"Neal, I'm serious, keep your eyes open and don't fall asleep."

"But, I'm real tired." Neal managed to say clearly enough for Peter to understand. He desperately wanted to listen to Peter, but unconsciousness was holding out a welcoming hand.

"Just hold on for a little while. Do you have your phone with you?"

"Yeah, I think so. It's in my pocket." Neal shifted in the driver's seat to get his phone out but stopped suddenly when he felt a wave of pain from his ribs. As much as he tried, he couldn't hold back the small cry that escaped his mouth. After recomposing himself, Neal said, "I can't get it out. Hurts too much. I'm sorry." He made a mental note to avoid moving at all costs.

"No, Neal, it's definitely not your fault." Peter reassured his friend.

"Yeah it is, I'm the one who crashed your car." Neal looked up to see Peter's face and and saw something that shouldn't be there. "Peter! You-your nose, its bleeding. Are you okay?" Neal felt guilt flow through him as he realized he didn't ask if Peter was okay yet.

"No, it stopped, its just all dried up. I'm fine, my arm is just a bit sore from the seat belt. Don't worry about me right now, okay?" Peter paused as he thought of a plan. They were on some side road and no one was around so chances were, nobody heard the crash. "Okay, here, I'm going to go check out the SUV. Keep your eyes open."

"Mmmkay." Neal mumbled as he fought to stay conscious.

Peter cursed himself for forgetting his gun back at home since he was in such a hurry to get to Neal's. His only spare was at the office so he was hoping that whoever was in the other car wasn't armed. When he got over to the driver's side of the car, he saw that the tinted window was already smashed and could see a figure leaned against the steering wheel. Peter cautiously grabbed the handle to the door and prepared himself to fight back if necessary. He opened the door to reveal a man hunched over the steering wheel with a gash on the side of his head. Peter looked further inside the car and saw no one else but the guy in the driver's seat. He reached over to feel the stranger's neck for a pulse.

"He's…dead."

Peter sighed and didn't waste any time as he felt around the dead man's jacket and was relieved to find an undamaged, working cell phone. He quickly walked back over to Neal.

"Hey! Neal, I found a phone." Peter yelled to Neal who had his eyes closed again. "Neal? You with me?"

Neal slowly turned his head to face Peter. "Huh? Oh…yeah…I'm here."

"Good, let me call an ambulance and we'll get you all patched up." Peter flipped opened the stranger's phone and dialed 911. He told them what happened and their approximate location and was assured that an ambulance would be there soon.

"No, it's okay." Peter said when the operator asked if he wanted to stay on the line. "Alright, thank you." He told the lady on the other line before he hung up and turned his attention back to Neal who was barely awake.

"An ambulance should be here soon."

Neal barely nodded to Peter. "Who was in…?" He tried to say but talking was draining his energy.

"I don't know but we'll find out. I'll call Jones and Diana once we get to the hospital."

"Kay." Neal closed his eyes.

"No, stay awake for me. Help should be here any minute." Peter told Neal but he didn't answer back. "Neal?" Peter nudged his arm but Neal didn't awake. Luckily, he heard sirens in the background and turned around to see an ambulance pulling up to the wreck.

Peter looked back to Neal who was still unconscious. "You're going to be okay." Peter said out loud as he heard the EMTs wheeling over a stretcher. He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself that Neal was going to be fine or reassuring his consultant who couldn't even hear him. _I'll make sure of it. _Peter made a silent promise.

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><p><strong>(AN):** I had a weird dream a while back about Neal getting to drive the Taurus so I decided to make it into a story! I was a bit hesitant to post this so tell me what you think. There is only one more chapter and I have already written it so I'll put it up tomorrow if I can. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N):** This is the final chapter! I apologize a million times for not getting this up yesterday like I planned. The chapter was originally much shorter and I thought I should add some more to it. Thanks so much for all the alerts/favorites/reviews! Any mistakes you find are mine and I (sadly) own nothing.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Once they arrived at the hospital, Neal was wheeled away and Peter went to get checked out. Peter was the luckier of the two since he was sitting in the backseat; he just had a sore shoulder from the seat belt. Neal, on the other hand, had three broken ribs and a concussion. The doctors tapped up his ribs and gave him some heavy pain medication that was keeping him asleep. But that was over four hours ago. Now, Peter was sitting with Elizabeth in a bland hospital room waiting for their favorite con man to finally wake up. The nurses eased up on the pain meds and said that Neal would wake up when his body is good and ready.

"How long do you think it'll be till he wakes up?" Elizabeth broke the silence and looked over to Peter who was sitting in an extremely uncomfortable hospital chair in front of Neal's bed. She was pretty upset about the situation after getting a call from Peter when they first came to the hospital.

"I just don't know, hon. It might not be just the meds, concussions are pretty serious." Peter had guilt written all over his face and Elizabeth could clearly read it.

"Peter, it wasn't you fault. You couldn't have known this was going to happen." She reassured her husband.

"Yeah. But El…you should have seen how much pain he was in."

"I know, the doctors said rib fractures are really painful." She sighed and tried to perk up. "Don't worry, this is Neal we're talking about! He'll be back on his feet annoying you about your tie before you know it."

"I hope so."

There was another short silence before Elizabeth asked, "Did you call Mozzie? He might be waiting for Neal at June's or something." She saw Peter's face drop and immediately knew the answer. "Peter, go call him now, it's not too late. Maybe he'll stop by."

"Okay." Peter got up out of his chair and was almost to the door when he turned around. "Oh, hon, I need to use your phone. Mine was crushed in the accident."

"It's fine." Elizabeth searched through her purse and pulled out her cell. "Speed dial 8."

Peter was puzzled. "Why 8?"

"He said it was his lucky number." Elizabeth smiled.

"Of course." Peter just accepted the fact and made his way out to call Mozzie. He dialed 8 and pressed the call button. After exactly 4 rings, he heard Mozzie pick up.

"I saw a mockingbird in the park."

"No, we are definitely not starting that."

"Suit, why are you calling from Mrs. Suit's phone?"

Peter paused. "Mozzie, there's been an accident..."

"Is she okay? What happened? I know a guy who—" Mozzie blurted out all at once.

"El is fine. It's Neal."

"What about Neal? Is he hurt? I knew something like this would happen!"

"Mozzie, calm down! Yes, he got hurt. We were hit in the Taurus and Jones and Diana are looking into who did it right now. El and I are at the hospital waiting for him to wake up."

"Oh. He'll be okay though, right?"

"The doctors said he'll be fine, they just need him to wake up to make sure nothing is seriously wrong."

"Alright then."

Peter was about to ask Mozzie if he wanted to come and wait with them but quickly remembered that he had a slight phobia of hospitals. "Moz, he'll understand." Peter reassured his mutual friend. He heard Mozzie release a breath over the phone.

"Okay, I'll be in touch." Mozzie paused. "I'm glad you're alright, Suit. Tell Elizabeth that I'm still looking forward to try that quiche Wednesday."

Peter had no clue that Mozzie was making plans with his wife but dismissed it. Elizabeth had grown quite fond of having him around. "Sure thing." he added and then heard Mozzie end the call. Peter made his way back into Neal's private room. When he walked in, Elizabeth was still sitting in the same chair so he didn't bother to ask if Neal was awake yet. He went over to give Elizabeth a kiss and then sat back down.

"Is he coming?" Elizabeth asked hopefully.

"No, he has that phobia of hospitals. He also said he's still on for Wednesday." Peter placed a questioning look on his face.

"Oh, honey, it's nothing. I know you hate trying out new caterers, so I get him to help out."

"You have a point there."

Peter and Elizabeth heard a knock at the door and turned to see Jones walk in.

"Hey, Jones, thanks for coming by." Peter said as he got up.

"No problem, boss. Hello, Elizabeth, nice to see you." Jones spoke toward Elizabeth

"You too, Clinton. Though, I wish it were on better terms." She frowned and looked toward Neal.

"How's he doing?" Jones inquired.

"The doctors said he should wake up soon."

"That's good, that's good." Jones looked at Peter. "We found out who was in the SUV."

"Who was it?"

"Dykes' brother, Kyle."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. Diana went to go question Dykes and she said he wasn't the least bit upset about his brother's death. He even confessed that he threatened to kill his sister-in-law if Kyle didn't get rid of you for putting him behind bars."

"Jesus…we never saw this coming."

"Yeah, plus it turns out that Dykes was also forcing Kyle to help transport the counterfeited cash. He confessed everything for a plea bargain."

Peter released a breath. "Okay, thanks Jones."

"Just doing my job." Jones nodded. "Well, I gotta get back to the office and help out Diana. Feel free to call us when Caffrey wakes up. Goodbye, Elizabeth." He walked over to the sliding door.

"Bye, Clinton." Elizabeth said.

Jones paused halfway through the door and turned around. "Oh, and Peter? Don't worry about the bet. I'm thinking when Neal's outta here, we buy him lunch instead."

"Sounds like a plan." Peter smiled. "Bye, Jones."

Jones waved his final goodbyes and left. Elizabeth and Peter went back to waiting for Neal to wake up. They were silent for another half an hour before Elizabeth started to get up.

"I'm going to take a bathroom break and get some coffee. You want some?" Elizabeth asked Peter.

"That would be great, hon." Peter said as he watched Elizabeth grab her purse and leave. Peter looked at the sleeping figure on the hospital bed. He noticed how young Neal looked when he was sleeping and couldn't imagine that he was actually a world renowned art thief, let alone his friend. There was no denying that their relationship hasn't grown into something more than a FBI agent and con artist. Peter was soon lost in his thoughts when he heard a groan coming from the other side of the room. He looked up to see that Neal was starting to wake up and practically ran over to the side of the bed.

"Neal? Hey, can you open your eyes for me?"

Neal's eyelids slowly opened and he looked around the little room and wondered where he was. He decided to focus on the person beside his bed.

"Peter?"

"Yeah, buddy, I'm right here." Peter smiled back at his consultant and friend. "How are you feeling?"

Neal shifted in the small hospital bed to try and sit up but stopped after he felt discomfort in his side. "Like I was hit by a truck."

"Well, that's sorta what happened. Do you remember?"

Neal closed his eyes. "I'm not sure." He opened them again. "But I had this weird dream that you let me drive the Taurus."

"No, Neal, that wasn't a dream. You did drive it, and there was a crash too. Dykes' brother was coerced into getting rid of me. He died from the impact."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Peter paused. "Neal, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let you drive just because of some stupid bet. This is all my fa—."

Neal interrupted. "Peter, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that this was going to happen the one time you let me drive. And besides, in the little time I was driving, I enjoyed it."

"Don't get your hopes up. You won't be driving any car of mine again."

"Come on, I think that's a little bit unfair."

"Life's unfair."

"Wow, that was original, Peter."

"Yeah, yeah."

"So, what's the damage?"

"Three broken ribs and a concussion."

"No, I meant to the Taurus. I can feel the broken ribs and the concussion." Neal corrected.

"Oh, it's busted beyond repair. El and I are going to need to do some car shopping I guess."

"Sounds like that it'll be fun." Neal perked up.

"You say that like you'll be coming with us."

"Of course I will. I'm pretty sure if you let me talk to the dealer we can work out a compromise." Neal winked.

Peter actually considered Neal's offer for a moment but their attention shifted toward the door as Elizabeth walked in with two coffee cups. "Neal! You're awake!" She quickly placed them down on a side table and rushed to Neal's bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, these pain meds seem to be doing their charm." Neal grinned.

"Okay, well the doctor said you could be discharged when you woke up if everything was alright. I'll go find him now." Elizabeth said as she walked back out of the room.

After the doctor came back to check up on Neal's vitals and such, he gave the O.K. for him to be discharged. Elizabeth had stopped by June's before heading over to the hospital and grabbed some clean clothes for Neal. Right when he was finishing buttoning his shirt, which took careful movements thanks to his ribs, a young nurse walked in with a wheelchair.

"You ready Mr. Caffrey?"

"Please, call me Neal." he winked, clearly trying to get out of sitting in the wheelchair.

The nurse blushed and Peter rolled his eyes. "Very well then." she giggled. "Neal, your chariot awaits you."

"Yeah, about that, you see, I think I'm doing much better and won't need to—"

"Ah, I don't think so Mr. Caffrey. It is standard protocol for patients to be wheeled out. If you'd like, your friend can push you." the nurse nodded toward Peter.

"What?" Peter did not like where this was going.

"You know what, I think that would be fantastic, Peter." Neal smiled as he slowly sat down in the wheelchair.

Peter regretfully pushed Neal toward the front of the hospital with the nurse in tow. When they got to the doors, Neal very slowly got up out of the wheelchair with some assistance from Peter.

The blonde nurse handed Neal a small bottle and a piece of paper. "Here is your sample prescription and you'll need to get it filled tomorrow. If you feel any more discomfort, go ahead and make an appointment with your doctor. Any questions?"

"Nope, I think I'm all set. Thank you for your help, Claire." Neal flashed a charming smile at the nurse.

Claire's cheeks blushed. "Feel better, Mr. Caffrey." She turned around and wheeled the wheelchair back into the hospital.

"Unbelievable."

"You're just jealous you can't flirt."

"No need when you're happily married." Peter looked up at the blue Toyota that pulled up to the sidewalk. "Speaking of, here's Elizabeth with the car."

Neal opened the door and gently slid into the backseat while Peter sat shotgun.

"Nice car, is it a rental?" Neal asked.

"Oh, no. When I got Peter's phone call earlier I was at work and Yvonne let me borrow her car." Elizabeth clarified.

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><p>When Elizabeth pulled up to the house and parked, she looked in the mirror to see into the backseat and stifled a laugh. Neal fell asleep with his head against the window and his mouth wide open.<p>

"What's so funny?" Peter asked.

"Neal fell asleep."

Peter turned around to see for himself and when he did, he almost laughed too. "I should take a picture for everyone at the office."

"Peter! No blackmailing."

"Fine, fine. I guess I gotta wake him up." Peter unbuckled his seat belt.

"Did you even tell him he was staying here?"

"I might have forgotten to mention it to him."

"Uh huh sure, honey." Elizabeth unbuckled herself and grabbed her purse. "I'll go get dinner started."

Peter got out of the passenger seat and opened the backdoor to wake up Neal. He shook the consultant softly on the arm and Neal flicked open his eyes.

"Even when I thought I couldn't sleep anymore…" Neal yawned.

"That's what happens when you get a concussion, buddy."

"Lovely." Neal grabbed Peter's hand for support as he lifted himself out of the backseat. Once he was standing, he looked around.

"Peter, why am I at your house?"

"Don't look at me, it was El's idea that you should spend the night. Plus the doctor said someone should look after you with that concussion."

"Well I wouldn't want to disappoint El."

"No, you wouldn't, especially when she's cooking her special lasagna."

"Yum, sounds great."

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><p>After dinner, Peter and Neal were sitting down on the couch in the living room with the game on. Elizabeth insisted that she could clean up herself and practically ordered them out of the kitchen.<p>

"You sure you don't wanna watch anything? I know you hate watching this stuff."

"Nah, don't worry. I just took the last of the pain pills; I'll be out before you know it."

"Suit yourself. Oh and by the way, I called Hughes earlier and he's giving you a couple days off."

Neal smirked. "How are you guys going to manage at the office without me?"

"We did pretty well before you started with us, so I think we'll be okay." Peter joked, knowing full well that the office without Neal Caffrey around would be undoubtedly uneventful.

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><p><strong>(AN):** That's it! Sorry, I know that the story was kinda short but I have a longer story idea forming in my head. Thanks so much for reading!


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